The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Paspalum vaginatum, commonly known as seashore paspalum, and hereafter referred to by the varietal denomination ‘SI 98’.
Paspalum vaginatum is a grass in the Panicoideae subfamily that inherently colonizes saline ecosystem, e.g. along sea coasts and on brackish sands. It is an ecologically aggressive, littoral warm-season perennial grass species varying in leaf texture from very coarse to finer-leaf types with potential for use in recreational turf. It produces both rhizomes and stolons and can tolerate waterlogged conditions and periodic meso-saline flooding. The grass occurs in the wild in both hemispheres. In the Americas, it is found along the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Pacific coastlines in marshy, brackish ecosystems. Generally, P. vaginatum is a self-incompatible, diploid species with 20 chromosomes. P. vaginatum has been introduced into salt-affected areas as the need for forages, land reclamation and recreational turf have increased. With increasing pressures on golf course developers to use coastal venues and to irrigate with reclaimed or brackish low quality water sources, there is a need for a high-quality salt-tolerant seashore paspalum turfgrass with specific adaptations that allow its use course-wide on roughs, fairways, tees, and greens.
‘SI 98’ was selected from a world wide collection of 300 samples of seashore paspalum collected by the inventor, primarily from seashore paspalum plantings on golf courses as mutant variants in growth habit, leaf texture, and level of salt tolerance, having potential for improved turf type selections. The original samples were vegetatively propagated and evaluated first in the greenhouse at Griffin, Ga., and later expanded to field evaluations at Griffin under mowing heights ranging from 3/16″ to 2″. ‘SI 98’ was included in the NTEP Bermuda grass trial at Griffin established during 2002 and evaluated for turf quality and related characteristics during 2002-2004. ‘SI 98’ was established and evaluated to the Griffin greens and fairway plots during 2002-2004, and was included in replicated seashore paspalum turf evaluations established at Jay, Fla. in 2003 and in Griffin and Tifton, Ga. in 2004. The selection was also evaluated for suitability as a greens grass on two premier golf clubs in Florida and South Carolina for one year prior to this application.